Oregon lawmakers look at annual sessions

SALEM, Ore. -- In a tradition that dates back to Oregon statehood, the Legislature has met every other year, instead of annually as in most states.

Now, legislative leaders are seriously discussing giving annual sessions a test drive, beginning in January with a session limited to 120 days followed by a 60-day session in 2008.

"I feel we should try this to show the public how it would work," Senate President Peter Courtney said Wednesday.

The Salem Democrat and others say Oregon's biennial system, dating back to 1858, no longer effectively serves a state that has experienced major growth and where state government has become a multibillion-dollar enterprise.

What Courtney, Republican House Speaker Karen Minnis and other legislative leaders are considering is a plan similar to one proposed by a citizen panel to have lawmakers meet in each of the next two years, but with deadlines to avoid runaway sessions.

Under the plan, the Legislature would conduct a short organizational meeting in January to elect leaders and get committees running.

But the House and Senate would postpone their daily floor sessions for two months, until early March, then adjourn 120 days later in early July.

Then, in January 2008, the Legislature would conduct a 60-day session that would be limited mainly to budget issues.

Oregon currently is one of six states that conduct sessions every other year.

There is no time limit on how long sessions can last in Oregon, and lawmakers have been criticized in recent years for holding overly long sessions marred by increasingly partisan squabbling.